A former Harvard Crimson center named Moore from the Toronto suburb of Thornhill, Ontario, had a big night Thursday in the Pepsi Center.

Then the Maple Leafs’ Dominic Moore talked with me about that and more, including about what his older brother and former Harvard alumnus, Steve, is doing back home at the approach of the fifth anniversary of his final game for the Avalanche.

“He’s spent the better part of the last four years trying to do everything he could to give himself a chance to see if he would be able to play again,” said Dominic, who had two goals and an assist in the Leafs’ 7-4 win over the Avalanche. “Now that’s not plausible, given he hasn’t gotten clearance from the medical guys, so now he’s sort of at the point where he’s trying to decide what to do next.”

Steve, now 30, still has a lawsuit pending against Todd Bertuzzi and the Canucks in Ontario. It probably will be settled out of court for several reasons, including the NHL’s desire to avoid the spectacle of effectively putting the league and its “code” culture on trial as well.

It has been strange for Dominic for several years, such as when he has played against Bertuzzi during his NHL travels from the Rangers to Pittsburgh to Minnesota, and then to his hometown franchise. But now, two figures in the forefront of the gathering storm that led to the events of March 8, 2004, in Vancouver — Brian Burke and Brad May — both are with the Leafs. Burke, the former Canucks general manager, joined the Leafs in late November. Burke acquired May, he of the infamous “bounty” remark about Steve, from Anaheim on Jan. 7, and it’s almost as if Burke and May are attached at the hip pads.

That’s got to be awkward, doesn’t it?

“No, no, I don’t think so,” Dominic said. “It’s a situation where there’s issues lingering because of the legal case, and we’re obviously all aware of them, but at the same time that doesn’t mean we have any problem with each other. We’re all respectful. We deal with each other honestly. That’s all you can expect from people.”

By going over all of that again — and first — I probably have been unfair to Dominic, because at age 28, he has become a notable story in his own right. He has 11 goals and 31 points and can be an unrestricted free agent on July 1.

“I’ve been through enough to know that I don’t bother worrying about things outside my control,” he said of the contract situation. “I’ll just do my job and see what happens.”

In the interim, he is one of three Leafs assistant captains, and that’s especially significant because nobody is wearing the “C.”

“With Mats Sundin, kind of a legend around Toronto, leaving, they felt it was best to lead by committee this year,” Dominic said. “I’m honored to have an ‘A.’ Being a leader in college and everything, I do enjoy that role.”

Moore’s play under Ron Wilson has been one of the few bright spots in another down season for the Leafs.

“I was an offensive player in college,” Moore said. “With the New York Rangers, it was the ‘Millionaires Club,’ and I had to kind of find some niche to break through, and that was as a defensive player. Then I sort of got labeled as only a defensive player. That’s the way this league works. I credit Ron Wilson for recognizing something and I think I’m slowly rediscovering that offensive side of things that was part of my identity as I was coming up.”

Moore said that every time he has played in the Pepsi Center, he has heard from fans telling him to pass along greetings to Steve, and that Steve appreciates the cards and letters he still gets from Avalanche fans, who have done a better job of remembering him than has the team.

I was at the Avalanche- Rangers game in Madison Square Garden on Nov. 2, 2003, when Dominic played his second game for New York after his call-up and found himself taking a faceoff against Steve. They had been teammates for two seasons at Harvard but never had been opponents in a game before.

“We didn’t say anything,” Dominic said that night. “I won the draw and played hockey.”

And Steve said: “It was a different experience for me. I’m used to playing with him. It was a lot of fun to have him playing for the Rangers and me here.”

We thought it was going to be only the first of many matchups of the Moore brothers in the NHL.

It was the only one.

Spotlight on …

Roberto Luongo, Canucks goalie

If the Canucks could only tread water until their star goalie recovered from his groin muscle problem and got back in the crease, they’d be fine, right? And that would add to the Avalanche’s uphill climb to make the postseason because the Avs face the Canucks four times in Colorado’s final 13 games of the season.

That’s what a lot of us thought, anyway.

After their fast start, the Canucks were 9-12-3 when Luongo was unavailable, but he was able to return against Phoenix on Jan. 15. Yet the Canucks have lost all five starts since his return, including a 5-3 home-ice decision to Nashville on Wednesday night and again at home Saturday, 4-3 in overtime to Minnesota. He had given up 16 goals in the four starts, and Vancouver remains in danger of missing the playoffs.

At the All-Star Game last weekend in Montreal, Luongo stopped 13-of-16 shots for the Western Conference in the third period and overtime before the Eastern Conference beat him twice in the shootout to claim the 12-11 victory.

The day before the game, I talked with Luongo in the visiting locker room at the Bell Centre, and he said that his nearly eight-week absence from the lineup “was really tough. That was the first time in my career I’d had that injury that long.

“I’m the type of guy who likes to be on the ice every day, so just being away from the guys and watching the games on TV was really hard. I’m just happy to be back and playing now, and trying to help my team during the stretch run.”

Luongo knows that once groin muscle problems start to show up for goalies, often later in their careers, the danger is that it can be a recurring issue, as with Dominik Hasek in his final years.

“It’s kind of a funny situation when you come back,” he said. “The first couple of games, you’re a little scared, and you don’t want to reinjure yourself. It’s a matter of regaining confidence and feeling that you’re rehabilitated 100 percent, which I do feel now.

“The good thing is, we have a lot of games left to play and we’re still in pretty good shape. We have to make sure we keep plugging away.”

A graduate of Wheat Ridge High School and the University of Colorado, Terry Frei has been named a state's sportswriter of the year six times -- three times each in Oregon and Colorado. He mainly covers college football and hockey for The Post. He's the author of seven books, including the novel "Olympic Affair" about Colorado's Glenn Morris, the 1936 Olympic decathlon champion.